


Counsel for the Defence

by 5mallestviolin



Category: Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, One Shot, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:10:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26100121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5mallestviolin/pseuds/5mallestviolin
Summary: Veronica is arrested for Murder and Logan turns up unexpectedly as her Defence Attorney.This was inspired by Ahana's prompt: Veronica the PI gets caught in a huge conspiracy and is framed for a murder she didn't commit.  While sitting in jail, she's told her attorney is there to see her. Lo and behold, it's her ex boyfriend who is apparently now a defence lawyerMany thanks to Ahana and CubbieGirl for egging me on.Rated Teen for a bit of swearing.
Relationships: Dick Casablancas/Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, Logan Echolls/Veronica Mars
Comments: 30
Kudos: 86





	Counsel for the Defence

The Arrest

Awakened by a commotion loud enough to wake the living dead, which indeed she felt she may have become, Veronica cracked one eye open and peered out, trying to figure out what was making the unholy racket. Her mouth felt and tasted like something furry had died in it, and not recently. She needed water, Tylenol, something, anything to cease the incessant pounding in her head. It took a full thirty seconds before she realised some of that pounding was actually at her door, which promptly flew open and the Sheriff stormed in. 

“Veronica Mars, I have a warrant for your arrest,” he proclaimed with more glee than a public servant should be able to muster.

Veronica struggled through the fog in her brain, brought on by the kind of hangover only experienced a few times in any normal human beings lifetime, the kind of hangover you get going out for drinks to celebrate your best friend getting her divorce finalised from the obnoxious idiot she had drunkenly married in Vegas two years ago, the kind of hangover you get when you start with margaritas and move via champagne and cocktails to tequila. Ugh, tequila is truly the devils work, she thought miserably. Suddenly a brain cell activated and she thought, “did he just say arrest?”

“Yes Ms Mars, you are under arrest,” the officious sheriff repeated, far more loudly than necessary and she thought “shit, I must have said that out loud.”

“You said that out loud too,” the deputy standing next to the sheriff said helpfully. 

Veronica groaned and attempted to sit up on the couch where she had evidently ended up for the night. She managed to get her head upright, but at the cost of her stomach starting to roil. ‘Ok, arrest me,’ she thought and suddenly she realised what she needed to ask. “Arrested for what?”

“Murder, Ms Mars. You’re under arrest for murder.” He turned to the deputy beside him and said, “we’ll cuff her and bring her to the station. We finally got her.”

The word murder finally penetrated Veronica’s brain. “Who was murdered, I didn’t murder anyone,” she said, confused. She struggled to get herself up, made it to sitting first and then standing as her stomach churned and then revolted until finally she threw up heroically all down the front of Sheriff Dan Lamb.

***

The Cells

They had taken her to the hospital first. Had to make sure she was well enough to question, but all that was wrong was the excess of alcoholic beverages she had consumed. The side bonus of that was that the ER doctor informed Deputy Sacks that she was legally too drunk to be questioned for a couple of hours more, and that bought her some time.

‘Must call someone’, she thought, still woolly but much improved after a couple of bottles of water and a dose of painkillers at the hospital. ‘Dad? No, he was away for a week at a convention. Mac? No, she was likely to be in at least as bad a shape as Veronica, having been the instigator of the celebratory drinks. Wallace? Yeah, Wallace would help,’ she thought. She went to grab her phone from her pocket and realised it wasn’t there. That made sense as they had confiscated her belongings upon arrest, but it hadn’t been there then, either. She banged on the bars until one of the newer deputies came back to check on her. She asked to make her phone call.

“Hey, Papabear, I need a favour.” she said when Wallace answered the phone.

“What the hell Veronica? It’s seven am on the one morning a week I don’t have first period classes,” he grumbled sleepily.

“I kind of just got arrested. For murder,” she said.

That woke him up. “What?”

“I just got arrested for murder,” she repeated.

“Whose murder?”

“I don’t know. Lamb arrested me but I threw up on him so they took me to the hospital. Apparently I’m still too drunk to question, and I haven’t been told who is dead or why they think I did it. I’m in the cells at the Neptune police station,” she said.

“What do you need, V?” he said quickly.

“Dad’s out of town and I didn’t have my phone with me when I was arrested. I need a lawyer, so can you call Cliff McCormack. Also can you see if you can find my phone. I guess I dropped it when I got home last night,” said Veronica.

“You mean when I carried you in there last night,” corrected Wallace.

“Oh god, it’s all a blur. I don’t remember anything after the third or maybe fourth bar. What happened to Mac?” Veronica asked.

“I took her home too. After she called me to say that you were, and I quote, having the best time, that her ex was a bastard who could take a short walk off a long pier with his golf clubs and that you and she were having lots drinks and they were all delicious,” he said. “She had said earlier that you were taking her out to celebrate her divorce finalisation.”

“Yeah. We perhaps did a little too much celebrating,” said Veronica. You didn’t happen to notice if I had my phone when you took me home?”

“Sorry, V. No idea. You were pretty wasted,” he said.

“Fuck. I thought I had it when we left. Can you check the apartment for that too, it may have been stolen,” she said, or I may have left it somewhere, she thought, cringing.

“Okay Supafly, I’ll call Cliff and head over to yours to look for your phone. Hang in there, we’ll get this sorted out,” said Wallace.

“Thanks, Wallace, thanks,” she replied sincerely. “You didn’t ask if I did it?”

He answered her immediately, “I don’t have to, I know you didn’t.”

***

The Lawyer

A few hours later, Sacks came to her cell to take her to an interview room. “I’m still waiting on my lawyer,” she said.

“Mr McCormack’s out of town this week, Veronica. You should know, he and your dad went together. He’s got a fancy suit from LA covering for him and he’s waiting for you in the interview room,” said Sacks.

Cursing the hangover for making her forget little critically important details like that, Veronica hoped to god that the fancy suit could make this go away, and that she could afford his fees. She walked into the interview room and stopped short in shock. “What the hell are you doing here,” she asked. He passed her his card. It read, ‘Logan Echolls, Attorney at Law and listed an LA address. “Yeah yeah yeah, I know you’re a lawyer. I asked what the hell you are doing here.”

“Lovely to see you again too, Veronica. To answer your question, I owed Cliff a favour. He called it in by asking me to cover his practice for a week while he went to a convention or something. I had some business in Neptune as well so I thought, two birds, one stone.”

Veronica eyed him suspiciously, “what business in Neptune?”

“Dick.”

“Oh.”

“Why don’t we get on to the charges. Booking desk said you were being arrested for murder and assaulting a police officer,” said Logan.

“What? It was just murder earlier. When did I assault a police officer?” she asked.

“Something to do with when you were arrested this morning, you assaulted the sheriff.”

“I didn’t assault him, I threw up on him.”

“I guess he considers that assault. Don’t worry, it won’t stick. Why did you throw up, are you sick? Are you pregnant? Have they provided medical treatment?” He asked, concern and fear in his voice.

“I was still drunk from last night. They took me to the hospital. Now I’m just hungover.”

“Why were you drunk?”

“Took a friend for a celebratory night out last night. Apparently we went big.”

“Who?”

“Mac.”

“Ah.” He paused, then moved on, “who are you accused of murdering?”

Veronica answered, “I don’t know. He didn’t tell me.”

“You didn’t ask?” he said.

“I did, but then I threw up,” she replied

“Ah,” he said again.

Veronica went on, “I guess Lamb will tell us, when he questions me.”

“Lamb?” said Logan. “Isn’t he dead?”

“Don’s brother Dan, the new Sheriff. Twice as mean, twice as dumb, twice as corrupt, and he doesn’t like me,” she explained.

“Oh,” he replied. “Sounds like a charmer. Do you know when it happened?”

“I don’t know anything,” said Veronica

“So we just have to wait on Lamb,” he said.

“I guess,” she replied.

They waited silently for a few minutes until antsy in the silence, Logan asked, “How’s your dad?”

“Good,” she said instinctively, then amended, “almost completely better.”

“Is he why you haven’t return to LA?” he asked.

“I don’t want to talk about this here, Logan,” she answered firmly.

“We have to talk about it some time,” he reasoned.

“Do we?” Her answer was sarcastic, “because you’re so good at talking about things.”

“I said I was sorry,” he reasoned.

“And I said I don’t want to talk about it here,” she reiterated.

“Fine,” he said.

“Fine,” she said.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes.

“Why didn’t you call me when you were arrested?” asked Logan

She looked up at him, startled, “I didn’t think you would want me to.”

Logan sighed and said, “You know I will always be here if you need anything.”

She spoke quickly, “I know,” then paused and continued, “I wasn’t trying to hurt you. I just didn’t think. I was drunk, and I didn’t think.”

“Okay.” Logan spoke again, “you think there’s a certain irony to this?”

“What?”

“This,” he repeated. “You here, hungover, accused of murder, and me helping you.”

She looked at him as if he was insane, “you think this is funny? Me being accused of murder.”

“Well, yeah. A little bit. Come on now Veronica. It’s not like it will stick,” he answered.

“How can you know that?” she said, incredulously.

He spoke as if he was stating the obvious, “because you’re innocent. You didn’t do it.” 

“How do you know that?”

He spoke deliberately, “look at me, Veronica.” She looked up into his eyes and he said, “You’re not a killer. You didn’t murder anyone.”

***

The Interview

Lamb entered the room, a predatory smile on his face and a swagger in his walk. “Veronica Mars, it’s so good to have you here. We have you red handed this time.”

Logan held up his hand and spoke, “Sheriff, perhaps you could enlighten us with the charges.”

“All in good time. And you are?” Lamb asked, dismissively.

“Logan Echolls, counsel for Ms Mars,” he replied.

Dan Lamb burst into laughter, “Echolls defending Mars, how the tables have turned.”

Logan looked at him coolly, “your point is?”

Lamb ignored him and spoke directly to Veronica, “Where were you last night between eleven and midnight?”

Veronica responded, “I was out with a friend. We headed out about seven o’clock. We went to several bars.”

“A male friend?” He asked, smirking a little at Logan.

“No, a female friend,” she answered.

“What time did you get home?” Lamb’s questioning technique was like a shotgun, loud and aggressive.

Veronica answered, “I’m not sure, but late. A mutual friend of ours picked us up and took us home.”

He followed up with, “Who were your friends?”

“I was out with Cynthia Mackenzie, and Wallace Fennel took us home.”

“Together?” The insinuation in his voice was evident.

Thrown off a little and still feeling well below par, Veronica answered, “yes, no…”

“Yes or no, which is it Mars?” barked Lamb.

Logan interrupted, knowing Veronica needed a moment to collect herself, “Sheriff, you will please address my client as Ms Mars.”

Lamb looked at him with distaste, but turned back to Veronica and said “yes or no, Ms Mars.”

Veronica took a deep breath and said, “I went out with Ms Mackenzie. It was just the two of us. Mr Fennel picked us up afterwards and took each of us to our respective homes.”

“Where did you go?”

“We went to Bob’s Bar, near the MI office to start, and then went up to the Waterfront, down at the beach about nine o’clock, then to Queen, near the Neptune Grand. After that we went to Country & Western near the Marina.”

“And you don’t recall what time you left Country & Western?” he asked.

“No. I had a number of drinks and I wasn’t paying attention.” Veronica started to get a bad feeling.

Where a better interrogator would have led in more subtly, Dan Lamb continued with his attack dog style, “Do you recall breaking into a yacht?” 

“No,” she answered.

Lamb went on doggedly, “Do you recall throwing a large bag into the Marina? 

“No,” said Veronica, getting increasingly agitated.

Logan interrupted again, “Ms Mars has said she doesn’t recall. I assume you have evidence.”

“Marina security cameras caught you and your friend at eleven thirty one breaking in and boarding a yacht where you went below deck. At eleven forty five, you and your friend are seen coming out with a large black bag approximately the shape of a body which you throw into the water. The two of you are then seen dancing around in celebration,” said Lamb. He switched on a video player and showed the security camera footage, which although grainy, did indeed show the events he described, including what looked like a clumsy but respectable post touchdown dance. “Your cell phone was found in the yacht’s main bedroom and your fingerprints have been found all over the yacht.”

“Is that all?” asked Logan.

Lamb and Veronica gaped at him. “The owner of the yacht is not at home, cannot be contacted and has not been seen since eleven o’clock last night,” said Lamb.

Logan went on, unperturbed, “You have a body?”

“We are searching the Marina right now,” said Lamb.

Hungover and a bit dazed, Veronica finally caught on, “but you don’t have a body.”

“It’s just a matter of time,” replied Lamb.

“I can hardly see how you can accuse Ms Mars of murder without a body” said Logan.

Lamb stared hard at Veronica, “as I said, just a matter of time. Where is your accomplice Veronica? Where is Cynthia Mackenzie.”

Veronica gaped, “What do you mean, where is she? Wallace dropped her home when he dropped me.”

Lamb answered, “Ms Mackenzie appears to have vanished. She was not at her home and is not answering her phone. Her passport is missing.”

Veronica looked at Logan in alarm, clearly worried about Mac. He reached over, putting his hand over hers and murmured “It’ll be okay, I’m sure she’s fine.”

Lamb looked at the gesture and spoke mockingly, “how touching.”

Logan turned back to Lamb and said, “you still haven’t told us, who is Ms Mars alleged to have killed?”

Lamb smirked and said, “Ms Mackenzie’s estranged husband, Richard Casablancas Junior.”

Veronica and Logan swivelled to look at him and exclaimed in unison, “Dick?”

***

The Investigation

Logan and Veronica walked out of the courthouse late that afternoon. Logan had gone into action after being told it was Dick who had been supposedly killed, reiterating that with no body, there was insufficient evidence to charge Veronica with murder and tried to convince Lamb that Veronica vomiting in her own home whilst drunk would have him laughed out of court if he went ahead. Lamb had stubbornly stuck to the assault charges, but the judge hearing indictments had been as dismissive as Logan and tossed it out.

“I need to find Mac,” she said as soon as they got into his car, a little BMW convertible she had always secretly loved. “And Dick. Can you take me home? I need to get my car and head to the office.”

“I’ll try calling Dick, you try Mac,” said Logan. 

“I’ll have to borrow your phone, Lamb still has mine,” Veronica said with a grimace. They both tried calling and were put through to voicemail on both lines. 

Frustrated, Veronica turned to Logan, “where are they?”

“I wish I knew,” he answered, before putting the car into gear and heading to Veronica’s dad’s house. “I left Dick just before eleven last night drowning his sorrows at Bar09, that bar next door to the 09’er. He said he was going to have one more drink and then get a cab home. I only left because I had an early appointment this morning.

Veronica’s back went up, “Sorry if I kept you from your appointment.”

Logan sighed, “shields down, Veronica. Just a realtor about selling the old Echolls estate. It’s waited ten years, it can wait a few more days.” 

He pulled up at Keith’s house and she jumped out of the car. He got out to follow her and she turned to him saying, “what are you doing?”

He replied, “coming in. You need to change and then we can look for them.”

“There’s no ‘we’ Logan,” she said. “Thank you for helping me out as my lawyer, but I can take it from here. This is what I do, remember.”

“Bullshit, Veronica,” Logan said, angry now. “Dick and Mac are my friends too, remember. If either or both of them are missing, I want to find them. Besides, you don’t even have a phone right now.”

Veronica swore, realising he was right and turned and said, “just don’t get in my way,” before stomping up to the porch and inside.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he mumbled under his breath sarcastically, following her in.

Inside the house, Veronica said “do something useful, make coffee or something,” before heading for the bathroom to shower.

“Why yes, Buttercup,” he called out in reply.

Unwittingly, a ghost of a smile crossed her lips, but glad he couldn’t see her, she called back, “and don’t call me Buttercup.”

“As you wish,” he responded.

A full blown smile broke out on her face, but she resolutely shut the bathroom door behind her.

Twenty minutes later, feeling significantly more human, with a clear head and a plan, she emerged from the shower wrapped in an old very short ratty bathrobe with her wet hair wrapped in a towel on her head. She deviated to the kitchen and where Logan poured her a fresh cup of coffee, saying, “nice outfit there. One of my favourites.”

“This little thing,” she said. “Just something I wear around the house.” She reached for coffee and when the knot at her waist stated to unravel, his breath hitched but she retied it without noticing. “I have to change,” she said and headed for the bedroom.

When he made no move to follow her, she turned back and said, “come on, I need to tell you my plan and we don’t have time to waste.”

He followed her hesitantly to the door of the bedroom where he saw she had retrieved underwear from her suitcase on the floor and was pulling on her knickers. Unable to look away, he almost stopped breathing when, although facing away from him, she shed the robe, displaying the creamy expanse of her back while she fastened her bra as she said, I’ll put a trace on their credit cards.”

“Veronica,” he ground out, mesmerised by her body, “you can’t do that.”

“What,” she said, reaching for a shirt. “Of course I can,” referring to the credit cards.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I haven’t seen you in months, the last time I saw you we had a massive fight and you ran, and we have barely spoken since then. You can’t stand in front of me, mostly naked, and expect me not to react.” 

“Oh,” she said, suddenly very embarrassed.

The moment became increasingly awkward, until with a stilted voice, Logan said, “I’ll go back to the kitchen. You go ahead and get dressed and come back out when you’re ready,” and turned and headed out.

Ten minutes later, wearing a striped sweater, jeans, boots and her old, much loved leather jacket, she returned to the kitchen and saw him there, making sandwiches.

“I thought you might be hungry. You haven’t eaten much today,” he said, keen to get back to a less volatile footing.

She accepted the sandwich saying, “thank you, I am starving,” but also grateful he wasn’t making this more uncomfortable. ‘I am sorry, about in there,” indicating towards the bedroom, “It was habit, and I didn’t think it through.”

“Okay. It’s just difficult, you know. I love you, and you’re so beautiful and it’s hard when I know I can’t touch you,” he said, sounding weary and heartbroken.

“I…I didn’t mean to, again, I’m sorry,” she said, voice quiet.

He spoke without rancour, “We will have to talk about it sometime, Veronica.”

“I know,” she replied. “But after this, after we find has happened to Mac and Dick, okay.”

“Okay,” he conceded.

\--

He drove them back to the MI office, saying it didn’t make much sense for them to take two cars. Veronica put a trace on their credit cards and set it up so notifications would go to Logan’s phone. He called hospitals and they both called any friends they could think of, all to no avail. Veronica tried ‘Find my friend’, to trace Mac, but came to the conclusion that Mac’s phone was switched off, out of range or she had deliberately deactivated it.

“Do you remember anything?” asked Logan.

Veronica thought hard, “Not much. We started with margaritas at Bob’s down the road. Mac wanted fancy champagne so we headed for Waterfront at the beach, and then she wanted to dance, so we headed for Queen near the Neptune Grand. I think we had cocktails. After that she wanted to go to Country & Western near the Marina and we started on tequila. I’m not that big a drinker, so I was pretty fuzzy by the time we were at Queen and I don’t remember much after getting to C&W. I think we got there about ten, maybe ten thirty. Wallace said he picked us up outside C&W at about one am.”

“Any idea what you threw into the water off the yacht?” he asked.

“No,” she responded. “It looked like it was long and dark coloured from the security video.”

“It wasn’t Dick,” Logan stated definitively.

“How can you be sure?” asked Veronica feeling a bit sick to the stomach.

“You’re tiny, and Mac’s a bit taller than you but not super strong. Dick’s about an inch taller than me and a bit heavier. The two of you, drunk off your faces, are just not strong enough to wrap him in some sort of black bag, carry him up out of the cabin on to the deck and throw him overboard, even assuming you could have overpowered him in the first place,” Logan reasoned.

“Yeah,” she said. “You’re getting good at this investigative work, and I’m off today.”

“Was that a compliment, I heard,” he said gleefully. “Strike up the band, I’ll mark it down in my feelings journal.”

“Shut it, Echolls,” she retorted, but without any sharpness.

“Yes, dear,” he answered smartly.

She glared at him, but otherwise ignored his comment before saying, “I have an idea.”

“Yeah, do tell,” he said quickly.

“I think we should do a re-enactment tonight. Retrace the path Mac and I took last night, see if it can jog my memory,” she said, carefully.

“You want to go on another pub crawl, tonight?” he asked, surprised.

“Well I wouldn’t have put it quite that way, but yes. Strictly for investigative purposes,” she answered.

“Well, if it’s for investigative purposes…” he left it hanging for a moment, “okay. It’s nearly seven now. We can head off and start about the same time at Bob’s.”

***

The Pub Crawl

Logan left his briefcase locked in the MI offices and he and Veronica walked down the road to Bob’s bar. Logan went to the bar, had a short chat with the bartender and ordered two margaritas. On his return with the drinks, Veronica looked at him aghast and said, “what are you doing?”

He replied, “I think it’s needed for an authentic re-enactment. Relax Veronica. I’m just getting one drink each, not buying pitchers like you did last night.”

She looked up at him sharply and asked, “how did you know that?”

“I just asked the bartender if he recognized you. He told me you were in last night with a girlfriend. He’s very chatty,” Logan answered. He handed her one of the drinks and said, “Cheers.”

About an hour later, they headed on to Waterfront where Logan bought them a bottle of Cristal.

“You didn’t have to, I think this is a much pricier alternative to what we drank last night,” said Veronica.

“It is,” he confirmed. “The bartender confirmed it, but I like this one, so…”

“So…” she repeated. “Well you’re buying, so you choose.”

“Why, thank you,” he replied. “Any luck with jogging your memory?”

“Not really, a few flashes coming through. Something about Mac saying she wanted to get him where it would really hurt,” she said. “More damning than helpful.”

“So where to, next?” he asked.

“Queen, near the Grand,” she replied.

“A LGBTI bar, interesting choice,” he stated.

“She wanted to dance. They have the best music for dancing,” she said. 

They repeated the pattern in the third bar, Veronica feeling increasing more relaxed in Logan’s company, probably due to the three drinks she had consumed by then. She turned to him and said, “Mac and I danced here. For an authentic re-enactment, we should dance.”

He looked at her, surprised, but said, “if you’re sure?”

Instead of replying, she took his hand and led him to the dance floor. A few seconds after they reached it, the music changed from the up tempo disco number to a slow ballad. They stared at each other for a second, each remembering a similar moment, at a Sadie Hawkins dance back in high school, until Logan put his arms around Veronica to hold her hips, and Veronica’s arms looped around Logan’s neck. They stood there, swaying to the romantic music, lost in memory and the feel of each other.

***

The Morning After (the morning after)

Veronica awoke feeling happier and more at peace than she had in months. Reaching over, she stroked a hand down the back of the naked male body in the bed beside her. She looked up to his face, and encountered his chocolate brown eyes watching her with a surfeit of love and affection. “Morning,” she whispered.

“Morning,” he whispered back. “Why are we whispering?”

“I don’t know. It’s so quiet in here,” she replied.

“About last night…” he started.

“I’m good, happy,” she said. “Better than, even.”

“I am too,” he replied, knowing that they still had to talk, but more than willing to wait on that for a little longer.

“I am starving,” she said. “It’s a long time since that sandwich.”

He laughed. “I always seem to be feeding you. I’ll order up breakfast.” After dancing with her in the bar last night, neither of them had wanted to move on to the next bar and when he had said he was staying in a suite at the Grand nearby and would she like to come up, she had agreed ardently.

Wearing robes and little else they consumed an enormous breakfast, until replete, she leaned back against the pillows. Logan decided it was time to confront the elephant in the room. “Why didn’t you come back, Veronica. We fight, you run but you always come back and then we talk. That was our agreement. But this time, you didn’t come back.” He sounded sad, hurt and she couldn’t stand it.

“I meant to, I did. But I was so angry and then my dad had his accident and I had to look after him. And the longer I stayed away, the harder it got to go back, to even talk to you.”

“I am sorry, Veronica. Not for what I did, but for not talking about it with you first,” he said.

“Logan, it was a quarter of a million dollars you spent. You paid off my student loans and you didn’t even mention it to me. You made me feel like a gold digger.”

“Shit, Veronica, that’s not why I did it. I wasn’t trying to buy you, to buy your affection, your love,” he said. “I know that’s not why you’re with me.”

“Then why, Logan,” she asked simply.

“It just seemed logical,” he replied. She looked at him in askance until he said, “Hold on, hear me out,” and plunged on. “It just seemed logical to pay it off so we wouldn’t be paying interest on a sum of money we could easily cover. Veronica, we were together, living together for over two years. What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is yours remember. But I made a mistake because I didn’t speak to you beforehand and for that, I’m truly sorry.”

Veronica sighed, realising that when he put it like that it made a lot of sense. “Okay, I get it. And it does make sense. But I’m still not comfortable with your money and it hurt that you did that without telling me.”

“I know. I get it, but I just didn’t think back then and again, I am sorry for that,” he repeated.

“And I’m sorry for not coming back to talk to you. I should have,” she said heartfully.

“Come back to me?” Logan asked hopefully.

“Always,” she answered.

He lifted his hand to the chain around her neck and asked, “Will you put this back on?”

She answered, “I didn’t want to take it off, but there were so many questions and I found it hurt so much. But I couldn’t not wear it at all.” She unclasped the necklace and slipped it off. “Put it back on me,” she asked hopefully.

He answered, “Always” and took the simple gold ring from her and slid it back on her left hand, the twin of the one on his.

***

The Epilogue

A few hours later, whilst they were still in bed, Logan’s phone rang and he saw it was Dick. Snatching it up, he answered it with, “where the hell are you?” 

Unable to hear him answer, Veronica growled, “Put him on speakerphone”, and impatiently, snatched the phone off him and hit the speakerphone button herself. 

“What’s the big deal, Logan. I’m fine, just headed off to Hawaii for a vacay, you know.” Dick spoke laconically.

“They think you’re dead, Dick. Veronica got accused of murdering you. You have to call the Sheriff’s office here ASAP,” Logan spoke fast, before Veronica could tear strips off his friend.

“What the fuck, Logan? Why would they think that?” Dick said disbelievingly.

“They have security footage of her and Mac throwing something off your yacht,” said Logan

“And Mac is missing, and the sheriff is after her too,” said Veronica.

Veronica and Logan could hear some muted whispering at the other end of the phone that sounded like a short but heated discussion and suddenly Mac was on the phone. “Ah, hi Veronica, hi Logan. Um, Dick and I have kind of decided to give it another try. He came to see me after I got home the other night, and well, he was so sorry and so sweet.”

“You couldn’t have told me? I’ve been out of my mind with worry,” said Veronica.

“I did, “said Mac. “I sent you about ten texts.”

“I don’t have my phone. I accidentally left it behind on the yacht and the sheriff has it as evidence,” replied Veronica.

“Oh,” said Mac. “But Dick sent Logan a text, didn’t you.”

“Ah, no,” said Logan.

“Sorry Mac,” Dick spoke sheepishly. “I forgot.”

“Dick!” Mac said in exasperation.

“Mac, I need to ask. What did we toss over the side of the boat,” asked Veronica.

“Um, golf clubs” Mac said a little sheepishly.

Dick piped up, “Did you throw my golf clubs in the marina, sweetie?”

“Maybe,” answered Mac.

“Which ones,” Dick asked suspiciously.

“The ones you keep on the yacht, the fancy ones,” she replied.

“Oh that’s okay,” he replied.

“What?” said Mac.

“It’s the set at the house I couldn’t bear to lose,” he said.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because you gave them to me and that means everything,” Dick answered sincerely.

Logan cut in to the increasing one-sided conversation. “You two can kiss and make up later, but right now, you have to call the sheriff here in Neptune and set this to right.”

“Too late,” Dick said smugly.

Mac cut in, “we’ll call straightaway after this call. V, I assume I can get hold of you on Logan’s number for now.”

“Yeah,” said Veronica. “I’ll send a text when I get my phone back.”

“Good. See you in about a week,” said Mac.

\---

After hanging up the phone, Dick turned to Mac and said, “You think they’re back together?”

“It sure sounded like it. They sounded, happy, you know,” she replied.

“Yeah. I know what you mean. I just can’t believe we had to fake getting a divorce to make them talk to each other,” said Dick.

“The things we do for friendships,” said Mac. “But the sneaking around has been kind of hot.”

Dick muttered “Yeah,” and pushed her back onto the bed, kissing down her body.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Counsel for the Defence [PodFic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29646915) by [Chikabiddy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chikabiddy/pseuds/Chikabiddy)




End file.
